Who are the Giants of our Day

 

 

 

1 Chronicles 20:1-8

 

March 31: 2023

 

The Capture of Rabbah

In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, Joab led out the army and ravaged the country of the Ammonites and came and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem. And Joab struck down Rabbah and overthrew it.  And David took the crown of their king from his head. He found that it weighed a talent of gold, and in it was a precious stone. And it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount.  And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and axes. And thus David did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Philistine Giants Killed

And after this there arose war with the Philistines at Gezer. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, who was one of the descendants of the giants, and the Philistines were subdued.  And there was again war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair struck down Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam.  And there was again war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants.  And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David's brother, struck him down.  These were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

As I read verses 4-8, I began to wonder who is the Giant of our day?  Our giants are not men of great stature, but they are often men of great wealth, who have no fear of God.  The book of Psalm 14:1 calls them a fool, The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.  The book of Proverbs has much to say about the fool, look at Proverbs 1:7, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  The fear of the Lord is wisdom, it is very different than the fear of men.  When a person has no fear of God they hate authority, for they believe they are the ones that make the rules.  Such people often set up charities that promote the values they want to push.  Many in the Church believe them to be good but often it is just one more way to not give to Caesar what is Caesar.  Yes, to not pay taxes, to control wealth, in that by doing so they are in total control, they think,

Jesus tells us a story about such a man in Luke 12:16-21, ^“And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’  And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’  So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

This author is not implying that all who have great wealth are fools, but one must be on guard, not about having wealth, but the love of such.  

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice